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So it's the beginning of 2007 and you are wondering what the year will bring in terms of SEO changes. The changes can be summed up in 1 word - "relevancy".

When we talk about trends in SEO we really are talking about what Google is doing. Since Google is by far the leader in this field it is rare that another search engine innovates before Google.

Earlier this year, Google filed some new patents that are sort of interesting to read if you get into it but for the rest of us I'll sum them up. In essence, Google's new patents talk about using relevancy to determine whether a site is worthy of including in the search engine result pages (serp). Relevancy in Google's mind is about how the words on your page compare to others site's pages that are on the same topic.

So, let's say your site is about politics. Specifically, republicans. Pages on your site will be compared to other sites that have similar pages about republican politics. And let's say you have a bunch of pages talking about George Bush Jr. Those pages probably should also mention the White House and possibly the Vice President, Congress, current affairs, etc. Because other sites are relating George Bush to those other key phrases, you'd better work them into your content also.

Using Relevancy to your advantage will help your site to be viewed as a possible authority site. Authority sites have a distinct advantage when it comes to higher placement in the search engine results. Often times, education and government pages are viewed as authority (still a debatable practice) because of their domain. It is very tough to beat these pages but it can be done if you provide better content.

Your goal is to have the search engines consider your site an authority by providing content that is not only original but also viewed as relevant when compared against the web as a whole. No longer will keyword stuffing a web page get you a high placement. The search engines are working towards a learning machine with the ability to recognize patterns and use those patterns to manipulate their output.

Even though Google was the first to file patent, you better believe that Yahoo! and MSN are not far behind. I also don't know that I would expect all of Google's patents to be accepted due to the wide ranging impact of the relevancy concept. It could be that the technique passes but the overall concept is rejected. Only time will tell on that subject, which could be a couple of years...

So, for 2007, build quality sites with relevant content and quality user design and you will have a web site that will stand the test of time, at least for 2007.